art equals happy.

The Start. :: S.A. Sketchbook

While I was there, I wanted to make a point of remembering as much as possible. Besides taking pictures and hearing stories, I also kept a journal & tried to write/draw/paste/paint in it everyday. Obviously, doing it during the day was the best (like while we were out or during tea time) but Mum, Dad and I had some down-time in the late evenings & I invariably spent that time drawing in here. It was nice to reflect & add to what I'd done during the day, and to capture snippets of conversation, or patterns that are particular to that time/place... One of the things that reminds me of my Grandpa is water colours. I use them alot in my illustrations anyway but I wanted this journal to mainly be about them. So no matter what I added; pen, pencil, paper... the watercolours would be a running theme throughout the book. If anyone is wondering how I travelled with watercolours(because they are so messy), I use a brush pen (filled with water) and a travel set, that has space to mix colours. Would you like to see photos of what my bag usually looks like?This was my first attempt at drawing Ted- for some reason, I just can't get his face right. As I share more pages, you'll see my various attempts. haha. Some things are just like that. :]

Knitting in a winter patio. :: South Africa Style&Story

My Grandmother is a bit of a style icon for me, so I knew I wanted to look my best while I was with her. [: During our trip, I took a few outfit photos to share the kinds of things I was wearing. It was wonderful to know my style was appreciated, I mean- not everyone understands the beauty of granny-chic. 
It was wintertime there, with lots of sneeky breezes, so scarves were essential.This shawll, I picked up at a market in Budapest, the dress a market in South London and the shoes in Bristol. Fun to see the collection of things from all over.Lucky for us, the sun still shines in winter in South Africa. [:I pretty much wore Jeggins everyday because they are much warmer than tights or jeans, and you can get away with them under dresses. Near the end of our trip, Grandma asked me how I get into such tight jeans! Haha, I had to explain that they were strechy and not really jeans at all. Oh, the mod cons! But I loved everyday, walking in the front door and both of us exclaming about a jumper or dress the otherone was wearing. Fond memories.

While grandmas takes her nap. :: South Africa Snaps.

One day, after lunch- when Grandma takes her nap - I took some little shots of thier house. Enjoy the glimpses. (Digital. Grandparents house.)
Honestly a calming, inspirational place to be. So much light and yellow. Especially at this time of day, time seemed to slow and the world seemed to hush.

Edition one. :: South Africa Snaps.

Here begins the stream of South Africa sharing. [: I've been trying to figure out how best to do this... One option was to do it day by day, sharing photos, film photos, animations and journal pages from one day all at one go. The trouble with this is that, that's a lot to co-ordinate for one post, and some posts would be really really long and others super short... So I've decided to go for sharing things in bits and pieces. Some Snaps, some Styles, some Stories and some Sketches. And happily, they all start with an 'S' so we've got some kind of continuity.

Without furthur ado, here are some Snaps of Mum, Dad and I chilling out in the back garden of Grandma and Ted's house.(Digital, taken in the first week.)

Missing this. :: South Africa.

Painting in the garden with Ted. 
South Africa. Instagram. Love, Kimxo

Good news out weighs the bad.

The reason for my absence from here is because I've been ridiculously sick with a tummy bug I caught on the plane ride home. Thanks to my already compromised immune system- this meant it was all I could do to keep my liquids up. BUT The good news is I'm on the mend, and feeling better- so regular programming to commence right away! (Including an awesome knitting pattern from a guest poster!) I'm really sorry about this, I hope you can forgive me!

The even-better news is: I got accepted to be a vendor at the Renegade Craft Fair in London this October! :D This is a HUGE dream come true, and I've been working really hard since November last year on getting together some awesome new product which will be debuting this fall. 

SHOP NEWS: My shop will be re-opening as soon as I return to my flat (which should be next week sometime).

BLOG NEWS: I've got tons of South Africa posts to do- my journal, some outfits put together with grandma's clothes, painting with my grandpa and other adventures. I've also got Guest Blog posts coming up. And of course my wonderful back-catalogue of photographs from events and college to post. Plus new things and peeks into my life as always.

Enough chatter- I'm going to go edit some photos for you! :]

Welcome home.

Hello everyone! I'm home!
Well, I'm at my parent's house for a bit, while I recover from the really long flight. It takes a big toll on my body, so it needs to catch up with me. To help me with this, I've got some more guest bloggers to share some art journals. Not sure if I'm going to have a bit of 'party' on here, or one a day- It totally depends on how fast I recover & photograph my art journal from the holiday. :D More coming soon.

[: I took over 1,000 digital pictures in South Africa- I can't wait to go through them all and share some with you! This one is from a weaving place we went to. [: I loved the handpainted signs.

Love, Kimxo

p.s. I still haven't seen the newest Harry Potter yet- so no spoilers please!

Little South Africa Update.

Hi everyone!! Unfortunately I still haven't found an affordable way to upload a picture. South Africa doesn't seem to have any notion of 'wireless' internet- so no instagram. My Dad has just spent a few days trying to sort out a little dongle for my grandparents, so they can use facebook and check our family blogs and things. So cute.

Mostly we are chilling out at thier house, which is comfy and there are lots of tea breaks. I usually get up in time for lunch unless we are going galavanting. We've visited a game park, saw some rhinos and hippos, been to a beautiful spinning/weaving place up in the middle of nowhere (it was amazing, i practically died from happiness, can't wait to share with you all the photos and things!), seen Ted's (my g-pa) paintings in local shops, knitted a lot, played cards, eaten lovely grandma-cooked food and when it's not too cold, Ted and I get our paints out and sit in the garden.

I've aquired a pretty dress, a shirt or two, a jumper, a blazer and a shawll from my grandma's closet (eep!) and I'm trying to convice her to let me take some outift photos. [:

Lots of love- I miss you all, and hope you're enjoying the posts that I've lined up for you! More guest posts coming up next week. kxo

This time next month...

... I will be chilling out with my Grandparents for a South African wintertime. [: Seeing as how they live so far away and money doesn't grow on trees, we don't get to visit them very often. I'm really really excited. I adore my Grandma and 'Ted' (my Dad's parents, and Ted doesn't think he's old enough to be called 'Grandpa' haha!), they are both huge inspirations to me- for style and art and lifestyles. Here are a few photos from last time we went and visited:Both my parents grew up in South Africa (they moved to USA after they had my brother), so although I've never lived there, I've visited and heard so many stories, it feels like a place I know. Very different to England or America, but interesting and beautiful and inspiring in it's own way. I'm itching to take a look at some African craftsmanship with fresh eyes!

I don't know how much blogging I'm going to be able to do actually from South Africa- like up to date pictures and things. I don't even know if I'll be able to get wifi on my phone! eep! As I don't have a laptop this is a big problemo! I'm going to be making a formal request for guest posters later this week- but throw me an e-mail if you have anything you might want to share on here (drawings, outfits, vintage finds, knitting adventures, vespa stuff, photo diaries etc) kim(at)artequalshappy(dot)co(dot)uk
I will be having pre-scheduled posts of the usual goodness, probably twice or three times a week for you, while I'm gone, but I'll have to close my Etsy shop of course. 
More about all this later- just wanted to give you a heads up. [: kxo